


Shadows [Bumbleby]

by BechloeSendrick05



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bisexual, Bisexual Blake Belladonna, Blake Belladonna Needs a Hug, F/F, F/M, Fanfiction, Gay Panic, Lesbian, Lesbian Yang Xiao Long, M/M, Past Blake Belladonna/Adam Taurus, RWBY - Freeform, Slow Burn, straight - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:36:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28767939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BechloeSendrick05/pseuds/BechloeSendrick05
Summary: She remembered seeing her on the schoolgrounds, fighting off a plethora of boys much older than her that were picking on her younger sister. Blake always watched from afar, the only friends she had being Sun and Illia, and even then she kept her distance from them. Blake always watched from afar, she was a 16 year old shadow. However, she particularly liked watching Yang Xiao Long, the daughter of the famous Taiyang Xiao Long,  famous fighter and now an older history teacher at Beacon Acadamy. She had been curious about her since she had been accepted into the academy the year prior and saw her in the freshman dorm area.Blake liked to distract herself from the many problems she had; like the fact that she was practically homeless, running from an old enemy and hiding a huge secret about her biology. She was a fighter, a faunus, and a frantic avoider of everyone.But after getting paired with Yang for a history project, Blake realised that there was much more to life than just herself and the evil in the world.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Mercury Black/Sun Wukong, Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

She remembered seeing her on the schoolgrounds, fighting off a plethora of boys much older than her that were picking on her younger sister. Blake had always watched from afar by herself, the only friends she had being Sun and Ilia, and even then she kept her safe distance from them. Blake always watched from afar, she was a 16-year-old shadow. However, she particularly liked stepping out of the shadows to watch Yang Xiao Long, the daughter of the famous Taiyang Xiao Long, war hero and now an older history teacher at Beacon Acadamy. She had been curious about Yang since she had been accepted into the academy the year prior and saw her in the freshman dorm area. There was something about her that she couldn't quite pinpoint.

Blake had always liked to distract herself from the many problems she had; like the fact that she was practically homeless (having little money and too scared to go begging to her parents after running away), escaping from an old enemy and hiding a huge secret about her biology. She was a fighter, a faunus, and a frantic avoider of everyone.

And so there she was, sitting on the top of the roof of her room at Beacon, staring out at the sky, gripping onto the thin and ragile fabric that held up her security. She let the soft breeze flow through her dark cat ears, listening to the hums of faraway crickets with her sensitive ears. This was the only time she could let herself go. The only people that knew she were a faunus were her roommates Sun and Ilia, as they too were apart of the faunus. It was mere fate that Blake had met them through Menagerie beforehand and got to choose to room with them when she started her journey at Beacon.

She was a shadow at Beacon Academy, no one knew her name apart from a select few of people, but Blake didn't mind. She liked being a shadow, being a shadow meant she wouldn't be found by her old demons.

That was until she ran into Yang Xiao Long, the tall, loud, bubbly blonde with an incredible skill for fighting. It had shocked her originally, as Yang had gone up to her first, had known her name, and had given her the widest and happiest grin she had ever seen. She was so... friendly, even though Blake had given her the most blank stare she could make up in her shocked state. The black haired girl was just so flustered that someone even bothered to remember her name.

Yang's aura reminded Blake of her childhood days before she made the biggest mistake of her life. It was comforting in a painful way. It was slightly annoying to an extent with all the obnoxious optimism, but it was nice to see someone being happy.

It was strange, as even though Yang's father Tai was an incredibly famous fighter all around Remnant, participating in boxing, MMA, the lot of it, Yang was never really looked upon by anyone, almost as if people merely cared about the 'original' Xiao Long. Even though the girl practically trained more than her dad, was in the best shape someone could be in and had the natural beauty to lure in all types from all genders, she did not have that many friends from what Blake had analysed during her lunchtimes.

Yang had a relatively small friend group consisting of her younger sister Ruby, Ruby's best friend Penny, Nora, Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha. The only other people Blake had witnessed Yang communicate with thoroughly were people that used her to get to her father for an autograph. It almost annoyed Blake at the thought, at how absentmindedly rude people could be without realising it. 

Turning back to her class memory, it turned out Yang had merely asked for a pencil for her younger sister Ruby, that seemed a bit too embarrassed to ask herself for whatever reason, but it still somehow struck a string inside of Blake in a way she had not felt for a long time.

The faunus snapped herself out of her state, deciding she could not get any closer with the talented young woman. Anyone that associated with Blake was in immediate danger, she had decided that a while ago, long before she moved to Beacon.

"Blake! We have to go to bed soon and you promised you'd have a hot chocolate with us!" She heard Sun's high pitched voice from inside, his voice clearly displaying excitement. Sun knew of her sensitive hearing, and didn't bother opening a nearby window for her to hear more clearly.

Blake rolled her eyes at his comment and hopped delicately back onto the balcony of their room, slipping through the sliding door, closing it behind her and strolling over to her wooden drawers. She picked out a pair of purple booty shorts and a royal purple robe to compliment it, before rushing to the bathroom. On her way to the bathroom she responded to her roommate.

"I'm here I'm here, relax. I'm just going to get changed into my pajamas real quick, start making the hot chocolate without me. Where's Ilia?"

"Here." The chameleon faunus responded on the other side of the room. She laid spread out across the black three-person lounge, watching TV, her small legs not touching the other side of the lounge but merely hooked over the backrest side. She almost blended in with the lounge's colour, due to her all-black pyjama pants and long sleeve. 

After changing, Blake returned to find Ilia and Sun huddled around the kitchen island like some sort of small cult. They were mixing the last of the hot chocolate mix into three white plain mugs. Sun dumped what seemed half of a packet of marshmallows into his, while plopping none into Ilia's (she wasn't feeling it after Sun's demonstration) and two into Blake's cup.

"Look who it is! I put two marshmallows into yours, just for you." Sun winked, beelining behind Ilia that was now sitting cross-legged in front of the TV. He signalled for Blake to follow.

The dark hair girl complied silently and joined the two on the grey carpeted floor, placing her boiling hot drink onto the sidetable next to her. 

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few seconds, the sounds of Sun's quiet sipping filling the awkwardness, before Ilia spoke up.

"So," The brunette spoke up, tapping her nails against her drink. "We all need to make friends this semester, new friends, just in case they split us up. I heard that we will be switching dorms at the end of the year and will be living with new people for the last two years. Like a mid-schooling switchup I suppose, it's stupid." The chameleon faunus sighed and took a sip of her hot chocolate, hissing at the hot temperature.

"Oh, speaking of friends, if we do get split up I'll be set! My buddy Neptune and his friends and I are all chill and close now. I'll be going with them if we have to switch, they're accepting of faunus so it won't be a huge problem." His monkey tail curled up at the mention of Neptune, Sun sipped his drink excitedly. 

"That's nice, but Blake and I aren't exactly as socialable and stupid as you, you know."

The two continued their banter as Blake sat there in deep thought. She was itching to read a book, but was just as itching to ask a certain question that was at the back of her mind. So she spoke up, interrupting them just as Sun was about to strangle Ilia with his tail.

"Guys," they two turned their heads to her, snapping out of their banter and scooting away from each other, "Do you have any inclination as to how Yang knows my name? I never really tell anyone."

Blake was met with an awkward silence and Sun started rubbing the nape of his neck with his mouth agape. Ilia covered her mouth, resisting to let out a sudden loud laugh.

"Wait you mean Yang Xiao Long? Yeah.. care to explain Sun?" Ilia commented sarcastically with snort, making eye contact with a shy, nervous Blake.

"Well... I do boxing classes with her, I...I started a few months ago and she's helped me a lot, so we exchanged numbers and... shewantedtoknowyournameandsaidyouwerecute."

"What was that last part, Wukong?" Blake glared, an amused smirk etching to appear on her lips.

He sighed, his face flushing an embarrassed red. "I said, she wanted to know your name as she has seen you around before, Yang referred to you as 'the cute bow girl that always is reading', it was hilarious."

His comment made Blake's smirk disintegrate and her face flush a bright red, "I-I, what? That's- she wouldn't say that! I am not cute!" Blake pouted, crossing one arm over her stomach, taking an annoyed sip of her drink with her other arm.

Ilia and Sun bursted out into laughter, throwing their heads back. "Well, she was certainly nervous to ask me about it. By the way can I just say her body is onehundred percent on POINT! Her arms are more muscular than mine. She definitely has a six pack under there." Sun gushed with an awe-struck face. Blake pushed back any thoughts she had towards that topic. Sun then suddenly gasped audibly.

"That means me and my abs have competition! I'll be back I'm going to do some more crunches."

Ilia watched with an annoyed expression as the boy ran off to his bed in the corner of the other room. 

"He's an idiot."

"Agreed." Blake said plainly. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was 10:30 at night. They had an class as early as 8am the next day, and Blake was not wanting to wake up at 6:30 in the morning in a grumpy mood. She never really was a morning person, Blake thought of herself more as a nightowl. 

"Well, we've got history at 8am tomorrow with Mr Oobleck, and that man speaks too fast even for my ears, so I'm going to sleep so I don't lose my head. Goodnight Ilia." Blake commented with a soft smile, walking over and giving the chameleon faunus a kiss on the forehead. Ilia was Blake's longest friend since they were mere toddlers, as their parents were incredibly close many years ago, Blake trusted the faunus girl. The smaller girl merely lightly blushed at the action and whispered a soft 'good night' in return.

"History huh... I think Yang sits behind me in History. Wait, how do I know that?" Blake thought to herself as she calmy peeled back her covers, slipping under the red bedsheets of her single bed. She remembered dibsing the corner bed next to the window way back at the beginning of the year prior, as whenever she couldn't sleep, she would look out at the moonlight.

The next day was going to be an interesting one, Blake knew that for sure.


	2. Early Morning Torture

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maybe the next month of History lessons were going to be incredibly interesting afterall.

Blake stiffened awake almost an entire hour before her original alarm was meant to ring about the dorm room. Rubbing her tired sun coloured eyes, she checked her phone to see that it was only 5:30 in the morning. The moon was still out but the sun edged at the bottom of the horizon, slowly seeping more into view. The cat faunus knew she was not going to get back to sleep after her restless sleep and weird dreams, so instead she hopped out of her covers, careful not to wake her friends that snored quietly next to her, slipped on her school uniform and tiptoed into the kitchen to boil a pot of tea.

Blake yawned quietly as she buckled up the last part of her thin black belt into her skirt and tucked in the back of her shirt. She had only a half day of schooling that day, and decided she would spend the rest of her afternoon stalking the library shelves and settling down under a tree outside. Flicking the jug to life, the black haired girl remembered having a double history class, then morning break and then english class.

'Double History? Great.' Blake mumbled to herself, throwing on her red black blazer. The current topic they were studying was a fresh one, set mostly upon the history of the faunus and how people's views have shifted on them and how their DNA both differed from humans and connected to humans. Blake knew they had an upcoming assignment on the faunus, but she didn't know what it was about. She just hoped it was an individual project.

Her sensitive ears picked up the quiet pop of the jug switch flicking back off. Blake grabbed a black takeaway cup from the top shelves and shuffled over to the fridge, grabbing a litre sized carton of milk. After making her English breakfast tea, the blacked haired girl slipped on her school shoes and crept outside and into the hallways of the school, hoping to get some morning freshair before all the chaos of the students. 

She turned the corner and found that everyone was still in bed, the other dorm rooms dwead silent as expected. Most of the students did not even leave their dorms until there was five minutes until the start of class-time. But who could really blame them, the school had an undenying amount of pressure and high standard set upon the students for everywhere they walked, apart from the own safety of their dorms. 

The large courtyard came into view as Blake's sensitive cat ears twitched under her tight bow, due to the sound of the trickling water from the large water fountain set in the middle of the area. There was a single wooden bench in front of the fountain that could fit between three to four people depending on their size. There was a small framed girl with snow white hair accompanying one edge of the seat, but Blake paid no mind to it and beelined for the other end.

As she sat down quietly, it seemed the other girl did not notice Blake's presence. That could've been due to the tendency that the faunus girl had for being dead silent, or due to the fact that the pale girl next to her had her face shoved aggressively in one of the many Beacon textbooks, occasionally lifting her head to sip away at her large coffee.

Blake stole a final glance at her when the girl looked up again, only to find that the small and timid girl she was looking at was the one and only Weiss Schnee. The heiress to the Schnee dust company. The dark-haired girl had not realised how small, dainty but cold Weiss looked in person until that very moment. She was- she looked ethereal, like a true princess.

The Schnees. Blake did not have hatred for all the Schnee family, but she certainly held no trust for anyone that accompanied that last name. Jacques Schnee had married into their family and turned the mining company into some sort of sick and twisted slave and black market scheme. The mere public only saw his ways as overpriced and shady, a way to have more control over the mining business. But anyone who had been apart of the more confidential and covered up stories knew that he overworked and underpayed his faunus staff, made business with criminals for a cheap buck and even on the odd occasion sold his own faunus workers off to... thieves. 

He was an abuser behind closed doors, and a cold, hard but charming conman to the public. He was smart when it came to cover-ups and two-faced lies, and Blake was just so lucky to of been apart of something that despised Jacques motives at the right time to discover some of his darkest secrets.

With a huff, Blake turned attention back to the tea in her hands. She had planned on bringing a book but had decided to make that journey to the library in her own afternoon time.

While she sipped on it quietly, her furry ears twitched once more as she heard distant laughs and groans. 

"At this time in the morning? Why?" Blake thought to herself.

"Yang! Why are you making me do this! It's so early! You know I already get enough exercise!" 

Yang? Blake's eyes immediately snapped towards the direction of the sound, only to see what only could be described as some goofy angel running in her direction.

Yang Xiao Long wore long camo coloured sports pants, accompanied by a thin-strapped orange tank top. Her white sneakers quietly pounded against the grey concreted paths as she jogged past with a sensual-like stride in her run. Her flaming yellow hair that only could be described as a thick nest was messily thrown into a high ponytail. It swayed with all of her motions.

"Ruby, you doofus, I just wanted to do some bonding time! We both are doing different studies, so I don't get to deeply communicate with you nowadays! You're always asleep when were are both at the dorms!" Blake heard a deep chuckle escape the tall girl's lips, followed by the irritated groan behind her of what she had recently learned to be Yang's younger half-sister Ruby, who was barely keeping up with the blonde girl. The two siblings were rarely seen without each other ever since Ruby had recently transferred, and they were an iconic pair of athletes in their own right. Ruby was studying art at Beacon, but also loved doing anything to do with running. Sprint races, long jump, all of it really.

"Can't we just bond inside with- I don't know maybe cookies? It's too early for this type of sh- OH MY GOSH!" Ruby almost fell flat on her face as she glanced over next to Blake in shock. The faunus glanced over only to find that Ruby was staring at the sight that was the Schnee girl. The brunette girl's mouth was hung open as she suddenly seemed more nervous than she should've been when jogging. Then with one quick motion, the younger girl's ankle collapsed in on itself and sent Ruby flying into Weiss.

Yang sighed and turned around, slowing down to help up her now flat-faced sister that had fell into the arms, lap, and well everything of Weiss Schnee. The blonde made quick eye contact with Blake and smiled at her sincerely, giving her a little wiggle of her fingers as a quick 'hello'. Blake blushed lightly at the action and hesitantly returned a shy smile, not knowing what to say or do. She fumbled with her tea and shakily sipped away at it. By then it was almost ice cold, but Blake wasn't thinking about that.

"YOU DOLT! Do you have any idea how much these textbooks cost? Let alone this school uniform? Despicible! You seem a little too young to be here, I hope you know that this school is much more than those pitiful middle schools that you attend."

"I-I am so sorry! I tripped over a-and I didn't mean to I-"

"Just get lost before I have you sent off myself. You do know who I am, correct? I am-"

"Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. One of the largest producers of goods from mines all over the world." Blake cut her off before the angry girl could commit any illegal crimes against poor Ruby, who had by then been helped up by Yang. Yang's gaze snapped onto Blake as she spoke.

"Finally! Some recognition!" Weiss smiled politely over at her as she stood up from her place at the bench and took off her now coffee stained blazer. She was just glad that none had gotten on her white button up. With a huff she tied the blazer around her waist effortlessly and grimaced as she placed her dripping wet textbook into her school bag.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labour forces and... questionable business partners." Blake countered before Weiss could spurt out another fact about her ego.

"What! I-I- the nerve of some- ugh!" The heiress sputtered as Ruby snorted and snickered beside them at the slightly taller pale girl. Yang's lips turned into a slight smirk at Blake's bold words, but she quickly covered it and feigned innocence. 

"What're you laughing at dolt? Why are you still here?" Weiss asked with a raised brow, looking between both Yang and Ruby with an almost confused expression.

"Well-" Ruby began but was cut off by her sister's much more smoother tone and words.

"It is true that Ruby is younger than us, by 2 years to be correct. We are 16 and she is 14. She studied and trained relentlessly to get here where she is today and is actually in the same grade as us, Weiss. She just transferred a few days ago and I am just trying to get my sister to come out of our dorm room more. I am so sorry for the misunderstanding and would be willing to pay the money for another textbook if you wish." Yang flashed a charming smile at the Schnee, and even though the girl's expression feigned coldness and nearly no emotion, Blake could tell that even Weiss had given in to the charms of the golden dragon.

"Well," Weiss sighed, scratching around her eye scar, "I admire your hard work... Ruby. Thank you for the offer Yang but I can pay for it myself. It looks like I have to change now so... I will be going." The snow haired girl said in an almost fake politeness. And with that, the heiress strutted off, her hips swaying with a type of confidence that Ruby could only dream of having.

"Well... would that count as a win? Finally a new friend?" Ruby grimaced at her own question and rubbed her neck awkwardly, making eye contact with Yang. The blonde girl merely gave her younger sister a noogy on the head and a chuckle.

"THIS BY NO MEANS MAKES US FRIENDS!" Weiss yelled from a distance, before entering the dorm room areas and slamming the door behind her.

"Well... I made an enemy, then lost an enemy within the span of five minutes and still have no friends!" Ruby sighed as she rubbed her temples out of annoyance.

"Well there's Blake! She's-" Yang went to finish her sentence but was gobsmacked to see that the timid girl had disappeared into almost thin air. When had she left like that, and how did she do it so quietly?

\----------

History class was boring, to say the least. Every student seemed to of been in another world, rather it be by sleeping, drawing, talking, zoning out, or even crying after attempting to hear and write down notes on Mr Oobleck's stories, but failing miserably as the crazied man rambled on too fast for the human ears to really hear properly. Even Weiss was zoned out, her head in her hand as her other tapped lightly against the desk. The girl had already studied ahead however, so she was probably just waiting to see if she had missed anything.

Yang nibbled on her bottom lip as she looked at the scribble that was her notebook. She originally had said to herself that she would copy as many notes off of Oobleck as she could, but twenty minutes into the hour and a half lesson and she was already lost, her handwriting looking more like chicken scrabble than anything else.

The blonde sighed, glancing beside her to see if Ruby was having the same trouble as her, only to see that the girl was drawing. She couldn't quite make out the full sketch, but from what she saw, Yang recognised a park bench and an outline of a thin figure sitting on the edge of it, a scarf wrapped around their neck. The hair and face details had not yet been added so Yang had no idea who it represented.

"Now! Wouldanyoneliketotellmewhatchapter23ofthefaunustextbookisabout?" Dr Oobleck spurted out, slamming his hand against the chalkboard that had the words 'Chapter 23' written largely on it.

The room laid silent, before Weiss raised her hand quietly. "Chapter 23 is about faunus traits and how they relate to the animal their faunus species represents."

"Good job Schnee! Tiptipworkasalways!" 

"How does she understand him so well? That man is a crazy rambler!" Ruby harshly whispered into her sister's ears, making the blonde flinch. 

"Honestly Rubes, I don't know. But, she is a Schnee after all, she has to endure all types of shitheads so she probably just understands all types of accents and speeds of talking." Yang whispered back, taking a second to glance around the room.

"What is that supposed to mean? What does the Ice Queen have to endure that's so 'bad' exactly?" Ruby asked, taking a glance down at the row below them where Weiss sat, slightly isolated from everyone else on the very right of the row. The brunette admired her side profile as the pale girl turned to the side to stretch her body and yawn quietly. Weiss may of been cold, mean, rigid and stuck-up at times, but she was beautiful, oh so terribly beautiful and Ruby hated that so damn much.

Yang had zoned out at her sister's question once she noticed a familiar black bow on the other side of the row. She sat in the front row, the same row as Weiss and a handful of other students, but she was to the very left of the row, a few metres to the left of Yang, but not too far.

Yang had never noticed her there before, and she had no idea why. Maybe she had switched places with another student?

"Uhhh Yang? Earth to Yang?" Ruby waved her hand in front of the blonde as Yang kept stealing glances at the timid girl in the left corner. She was writing notes effortlessly, her soft looking hands never seemed to stop writing. How Blake could keep up with Mr Oobleck was beyond her, but Yang silently praised her for it, as it was a truly difficult thing to do.

"Huh? O-Oh um well, its mostly just rumours of abuse and crime in their family I suppose. Shady things always being covered up in a pile of money and charm, Jacques breaking their family apart and treating everyone horribly. But I wouldn't be surprised if the rumours were true, Jacques is an arsehole." Yang commented flatly, looking back up at the board to see the word 'pair assignment' being written shakily with chalk on it.

Ruby pursed her lips and merely clicked her tongue in response, deep in thought, also turning to the board and turning into a deadly white colour. "Can we choose our partners?" Ruby flung her hand up and asked Mr Oobleck.

The green haired teacher glanced up at her and spoke quickly. "Ruby, my dear, if you were listening you would have heard me say that the partners are chosen at complete random!"

Ruby's brows furrowed as she picked at her fingers suddenly, dropping her pencil onto her desk in defeat. "Dammit." She mumbled under breath.

"Hey, it'll be fine, this way you can make new friends!" Yang smiled at her sister, placing a hand on Rubt's shoulder. The girl seemed to take her big sister's words in a polite way. Ruby nodded her head and tried reminding herself that she could make a new friend this way and that it would be fine. The first pair was called out and Ruby waited anxiously to hear her own name.

"WeissSchneeandRubyRose! Thecomputerhasspoken!" Mr Oobleck smiled as he tidied up the assignment papers on his desk for the second pair to collect. 

The room went dead silent as a new tension rose above the heads of everyone. 

"Hah! Have fun with the fucking Scar Princess! Poor losers!" Cardin Winchester called from the back of the room. Mr Oobleck silenced him as Ruby shakily stood and shuffled over to the front of the room to collect her papers with Weiss, who already stood at the front of the room, looking irritated and cold.

"Remember I will say this once more, onceyouhavecollectedyourpapers, head to the library with your partner where you will read the instructions and begin your assignment! You are to stay in the library until the end of the double period. You have a whole month to finish this task, so please do not rush, and treat your partner with respect! You can come to me with any questions if you have any!" Mr Oobleck commented, hurrying the two out the door. The last Yang saw of Ruby was the worried but scared look in her eyes as Weiss grabbed her hand and dragged her angrily out of the room.

"Okay! Ournextpartnerswillbechosenbythecomputernamepickeroncemore!" Oobleck commented, fidgeting his glasses back up onto the higher part of the bridge of his nose. He scrolled down on his Macbook and clicked a button and waited silently. 

Yang shuffled uncomfortably in her seat and she felt suddenly alone without her sister. Jaune and Pyrrha had already been chosen before Ruby and Weiss, so the only other friends she had left out of the twenty odd people in the room were Nora, Ren, Velvet and Coco. It was a very slim chance that she would get partnered with them.

"Next is... BlakeBelladonnaandYangXiaoLong! Have fun girls!" Yang froze as she made eye contact with Blake, who had already jumped up in surprise and turned to the blonde girl.

Maybe the next month of History lessons were going to be incredibly interesting afterall.


	3. New Partners

Ruby yelped as Weiss' nails dug into her thin wrist. She had to admit, Weiss' hands were incredibly soft as they brushed against the side of her thumb and pointer finger. Well, compared to her rough and dirt-covered artist hands, at least. The white-haired girl looked terribly annoyed with Ruby, to put it blankly.

They made it to the library and sat at an empty group table that could fit up to what seemed eight students. The darker wood was elegant, older, vintage, with the odd scratches and pencil carvings from past students. Ruby knew that even her Uncle Qrow had carved his initials into these same tables. Chairs from the same wood with rich red cushions complemented the tables.

"Now," Weiss began, tossing their assignment papers in front of them. They sat across from each other, this put a rough metre distance between them. "I hope you have been at least doing some basic studying. I will not be failing because of you, and I will not have my grade averages be dropping due to some dolt's ridiculous-"

"Hey hey hey! I promise you, you won't be failing class anytime soon, Ice Queen. I'll try my best." Ruby interrupted her partner, sliding her work folder from her backpack and desperately trying to scavenge for the little notes she had. In her hurried faze, a single page slipped out and fell onto the table and spun around, as if it taunted Ruby and was begging for Weiss to look. "Anyways, let's look over the requirements- oh." Ruby cut herself off as she realised what was in Weiss's hands, making her face flush into a bright red colour.

"U-Uh I can-that is-"

"A drawing." Weiss deadpanned, studying it for a moment. Weiss herself was a relatively adequate artist, considering the amount of forced 'hobbies' she had picked up as a child, but her talent had nothing on Ruby's. Ruby had... a type of style that screamed who she really was, it was flawed in all the right ways. It may have only been a rough sketch, but Weiss thought it was one of the prettiest drawings she had ever seen. The semi-realism of it all made it ethereal. 

That was when she noticed something. On the paper, there was a girl sitting on a lone park bench, with a scarf wrapped snuggly around her neck, a coffee in hand. Her head was looking down, but Weiss could work out a long, off-centred ponytail and a face scar delicately scribbled over the person's left eye. They wore merely outlined scribbles as an outfit, but it seemed to look like and resemble the Beacon Acadamy uniforms.

"Is this..." Weiss began, hiding a small gulp, "It looks like me?" Weiss asked awkwardly, hissing and grinding her teeth in response to her own stupidity. She was a Schnee, she had to get ahold of herself.

Ruby looked down at her hands out of embarrassment for a few seconds then looked back up at Weiss. "Uh... yeah it is, sorry. I am sorry if that creeps you out, you're just naturally a really good reference to draw, and you are certainly not....ugly. Um, is it... bad? The drawing?" Ruby asked with wide silver eyes that bored into Weiss' baby blue ones.

"U-Um- no! No, it is not bad dolt! It's-" Weiss began flushing a light pink, and forced it down, not before Ruby noticed of course, "It's quite adequate! A good drawing! Keep it up!" Weiss feigned a sudden seriousness, placing a fallen brick back up on her wall of solitude that had somehow got taken down by Ruby of all people.

Weiss had to admit, she was flattered by the drawing, but she wouldn't dare be caught saying that out loud. "Anyways, we have to compare notes Ruby, can you pass me yours? You can read out the requirements." The snow haired girl coughed, the ice cold distant look in her eyes returning once again.

Ruby frowned internally at Weiss' retraction from the moment but shook it off, unclipping some papers from her black folder and handing it over shakily to the older girl. Their hands brushed once more and Ruby felt like she was going to internally implode from the unbreathable air, but she didn't know why. Why she couldn't breathe and why she felt the way she did. She figured it was due to the menacing and powerful presence the girl had, she was cold.

"Hmm.... these are quite minimal, but they do match mine in pieces, I can work with this." Weiss muttered to herself as she shuffled through both of their notes, seeming to be trying to put them in some type of order.

Ruby's mouth gaped open, not knowing whether to be flattered or offended. She tried shaking her head slightly to get herself to concentrate but it barely worked. "Uh-uh so basically Dr Oobleck wants us to as we know, work in pairs to create a presentation about the Faunus."

Weiss hummed, glancing up and raising a single eyebrow, silently asking Ruby to continue.

"And...and we are to create a presentation ranging from a minimum of 4 minutes and a maximum of 6 minutes. We are to talk about the history of the Faunus, how they came to be in Remnant, how they relate to humans, how they differ from humans, how their animal traits work, and to provide an example from a specific type of Faunus. We can also talk about the rough history on their rights and how humans took advantage of their usefulness and turned work into abuse. Basically, we are recapping what we have learnt into a presentation." 

Weiss stared blankly at the desk in front of her and let Ruby's word's sink in properly. 

"How they...'turned work into abuse', yes that is definitely something we could easily get information on." Weiss thought inside her head. She had heard the rumours about her father, about her, her mother, their name, she definitely was far from stupid. She knew what her father had turned their once successful and positive name into, he had turned it into a slave trade, a place of violence and disgust and fame and fortune.

"Well, if we are going to work together, I suggest keeping this mostly professional. I am going to collect textbooks from a few isles over, can you go collect a few books for me? I'll write them down, here. You can also look through the computers if you wish." The Schnee girl quickly scribbled down a small lists of books that fortunately for Ruby, were on the completely other side of the library from where Weiss was headed to.

With a nod, Ruby smiled widely at her and said in a bubbly tone. "Of-Of course Weiss! We are partners!" 

The cold princess closed her eyes and shook her head with a sigh before strolling off in a delicate manner to find the books she was looking for. "That dolt."

As Ruby roamed the many isles, she shuffled past a few of her other classmates and began to realise that she had a pretty high chance of running into her older sister. Even though the school's library was incredibly vast, Yang tended to always stray near the crowd it seemed.

Almost on queue, the brunette spotted the bright yellow hair out of the corner of her eye. To her surprise however, Yang was seated in a very small and quiet area of the library, tucked away in a tight corner in front of a singular computer and a small stack of books. That was when Ruby realised she was partnered with Blake.

"Out of all the odds." Ruby smiled to herself. Yang noticed her from across the room and broke out into a wide grin, frantically waving at her like an idiot. The large blonde startled Blake, that sat beside her, as she stood up and slammed her other hand down onto the table to be seen more clearly by her younger sister. Not that she needed to be seen more clearly, her bright hair was the biggest giveaway. 

Ruby laughed and waved back, turning around to find her place back with Weiss.

Not before tripping over like the world's biggest clown, of course.

Her books scattered everywhere, as her chin hit the ground hard. She groaned in pain as she pushed herself onto her knees. Ruby rubbed her head and kneeled there for a moment to regain her composure. She heard snickering from behind her and then knew she hadn't tripped over accidentally. Ruby looked behind her to see Cardin laughing his head off and shoulder bumping his friends as they walked away. Tears blurred in her eyes as she tried numbing the pain. 

"Ugh, those guys are assholes. Here, let me help you up, Ruby." Ruby felt herself being pulled up by moderately strong arms, she then realised it was Yang's friend, Jaune.

"Thanks Jaune, Cardin is so mean! Honestly, I pray for the day karma comes his way." Ruby commented aggressively with a small scowl, collecting her books from Jaune. 

The tall boy giggled and shook his head, before kicking into gear again. "Well, I better find these damned textbooks and head back to Pyrrha, don't want her thinking I was squashed and killed by the amount of students here. See you later!"

Ruby sighed and dusted off some fluff and dirt from her jagged blazer, before heading back over to Weiss, who had already sat down and shoved her face into a certain chapter of a book, while simultaneously scrolling through the web on a nearby computer. 

Ruby really hoped Yang was having a time as weird as hers.

\----------

"Next is... BlakeBelladonnaandYangXiaoLong! Have fun girls!" 

Blake wanted to scream, both out of annoyance and out of happiness.

She knew if she had gotten anyone else, she probably would have never talked to them or even bothered looking at them, but with Yang, maybe she could put the tiniest drop of trust in her. The girl was strong and knew boundaries, but at the same time that was something that annoyed Blake, she wasn't as bad as everyone else, she was actually tolerable. 

They headed to the library and were met with the loud mutter of students. It seemed the librarian was no where to be seen, meaning the students reigned free over the volume of noise in the room. There were students from every year in there, from all different types of classes.

Blake's cat ears flicked under her bow as she cringed. She didn't exactly hate the amount of noise in the room, it just contributed to the sudden headache that had accompanied her once she had been called out by Dr Oobleck.

Yang usually loved crowds and would talk and help others, but she noticed her partner's frown and cleared her throat. "Hey, did you want to go somewhere more private? There's a really nice quiet spot in the corner of this place that I know and go to sometimes when I don't want distractions."

Blake looked up at her shyly and nodded with a small smile. "That would be nice." She croaked out with a squeak. She covered her mouth with her hand out of shock, her eyes widened. 

Yang looked down at her and began to giggle. Her giggles turned into erupted laughter as she placed a delicate hand on the back of Blake and slowly guided her through the crowds and to a secluded desk and computer. The faunus was tense under her uniform, seemingly uncomfortable, but at the same time she could not see any other intent in those wide violet eyes and was failing to push down a feeling of trust.

Blake awed up at the tall blonde, surprised that Yang cared that much about her wellbeing- and also due to the fact that this was her favourite spot in the library.

"What's got you looking like a shocked mouse Blake? Yang asked with a grin as she flopped down onto a nearby chair and started up a nearby computer. Blake awkwardly stood in beside of her and looked down at the chair next to Yang. She wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to sit next to her that close yet, she only got that close to Sun and Ilia, and that was by force in Menagerie.

"It's just- this place is my favourite spot in the library... it's nice over here." Blake commented in a low and stuttering voice, looking down at her feet. 

Yang noticed the raven haired girl's discomfort and grabbed the chair next to her with ease, lifting it and placing it on the other side of the table, directly opposite her.

"You look a little uncomfortable and awkward to want to sit next to me and I understand that... I can be a bit much sometimes. There you go!" The bubbly blonde admitted, doing a 'tada' motion with her hands.

Blake refrained a laugh, seeing Yang do jazz hands, and instead politely sat down on the now moved chair with a slight smile. "Thank you Yang. However don't worry, these are my own trust issues, nothing to do with you." The faunus admitted, glancing over at the assignment papers to distract herself. Blake knew this entire research era was going to make her slightly uncomfortable, but she had to push through it. Yang merely fixated herself into silence, allowing her work partner to feel comfortable. 

"I see you are already researching? I didn't even know you read the papers." Blake commented in a questioning tone, noticing the multiple tabs open on the blonde's browser. 

"Yeah, one thing most people don't know about me is I am an incredibly fast reader when it comes to inside my head. But speaking out loud like in a written speech? I am like a turtle!" Yang laughed, scrolling past the many sites on google search results.

Blake nodded nonchalantly and let out a large sigh, before skimming her eyes over the plethora of text on the A4 pieces of paper that made her heart clench anxiously.

She couldn't tell Yang, she never would. Well, that's what she told herself.

The tall blonde girl glanced up and snuck more than a handful of curious glances at Blake. In a way, Yang couldn't help it. Blake had a type of aura that she couldn't quote pinpoint, and yet she still felt comfortable with the shy and mysterious woman. 

She skimmed over her luscious, soft black hair and then moved down to the face. Her eyes were wide but at the same time almost in a permanent glare, like the pale girl was on constant alert for something. They glowed an everlasting yellow gold colour, they were quite the enchanting sight. Her nose was smaller and on the pointier side, and her lips were large and soft looking, a fresh coat of lip gloss covering them. They were hard to spot, but Yang could also see Blake's small and rounded ears poking through her raven nest of hair. Very faint freckles scattered across Blake's nose and under eye area and a singular dark mole occupied just under the corner of her left eye. The blonde girl then saw something out of the corner of her eyes that distracted her from admiring her work partner in front of her.

"Hey, I think that's my sister!" The sudden chirp of Yang's high pitched voice after a handful of quiet minutes caught Blake off guard, making her biceps twitch and flinch out of habit.

"Oh?" Blake mumbled to herself, glancing behind her to indeed see a red-clothed blob bouncing and weaving through the aisles with stacks of books in her hands.

"RUBY!" Yang slammed her hand on the table and rushed onto her feet. She waved furiously at her younger hand sibling, her grin widening and dimples flourishing. Blake had to admit, she admired her features longer than she intended on doing so.

Ruby waved back to her sister with a loud laugh and then walked back into the aisles. Yang had heard a thud a few seconds after Ruby's departure but paid no attention to it. Instead she paid attention to Blake that was below her.

Her eyes were... distant. They looked sad and Yang really didn't know why. 

"Oh- fuck, I am so sorry. Did I startle you? I apologise greatly. If you want any boundaries for your own wellbeing please tell me, I want you to feel comfortable Blake." The tall boxer said in a gentle tone, slowly sitting back down, not letting her apologetic and soft eyes leave the burning gaze of Blake's.

"I- I suppose we could make a contract." The faunus said shyly, playing with her fingers under the desk and breaking the eye contact. "That was a dumb word to use but you get what I mean."

"Okay! It's alright, I get what you meant. Also, I have a question for you." Yang began. She clicked away at the computer in front of her, saving and transferring things onto what looked like a USB-like device, before shutting down the machine. "I was actually wondering, did you want to come to the park at the end of the day? I am going to bring some picnic stuff and I was hoping if you could bring your laptop and any notes you have on the assignment. That way we can get a lot done today and I can get to know you as a bonus! Meet me at the gym, 5 o'clock?"

Blake stared blankly at the girl who wore a cheeky and hopeful grin. Yang really was a persistent women, she had to give the blonde that. Her mind raced back and forth between trusting her and not. The bell for lunch rang in their ears as Yang awaited an answer. Her wide lavender eyes seeped into Blake's yellow ones.

"Sure." Blake felt herself saying before even properly thinking over it. Her legs did the rest of the work for her as she found herself walking away with her work clutched against her chest, a smile smirk etched onto her lips. Gosh, she was so totally screwed.

"It certainly is nice to have a new acquaintance, I suppose." Blake thought to herself as she walked away, making a beeline for her dorm before the cafeteria to prepare for her afternoon study with Yang.

"Study. Hmm, yes." Blake grumbled to herself as she made it to the front of her door, only to be greeted by Sun. He looked overly bubbly as usual.

"Hey! How'd class go?"

As Blake softly opened their door with her hip and began explaining her experience, little did she know that she had left a smiling Yang behind her, who was still too excited to move from her spot at the library. Her knee bobbed up in down rapidly as she gnawed at her fingers. 

"She said yes..." The blonde began, smiling into her hands, her large dimples stretching even further if that were even possible, "SHE SAID YES!" Yang wooed to herself, fist pumping the air. Her loudness copped her a 'shh' from the newly returned librarian, but by that point she did not care. 

Blake had said yes, and Yang wanted the girl to trust her, she wanted to be Blake's friend.


End file.
